H today

Hello:

Good vibrations is on this student's mind, not science. 

I finished Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Letter.  A short book, only 185 pages long, it is a good book but not a great book.  Definitely not a page-turner.

My next book is The Whitechapel Horrors, yet another Sherlock Holmes mystery, this time with taking place in the late 19th century, the time of Sherlock.  I am looking forward to reading this book.

After that book is Shanghai Girls. I enjoy reading books on China and this is suppose to be a good novel on China.

I have four books waiting for me at the library.  I will go there tomorrow to pick up those books.

I may get some strawberries tomorrow to make strawberry shortcake.  I have to make my own biscuits here and I have what I need to do this.

The long weekend approaches.  What are your plans?

Steven

In The Dalles...

Hi:

I am in The Dalles right now. I drove my dad to the Oregon Veterans Home in The Dalles. He plans to move in the home in two weeks.  Because he is 100% disabled veteran he stays there for free.  The home has 151 beds and is quite new.

This picture is from the teachers' questions. 

Hadrian's Wall may be built around Hadrian's garden but it was built in England many, many centuries ago.

Reading on my Kindle while here. 

Hotter here than we have seen in Stayton.  I see it is raining in Stayton but hot and dry here. 

The Dalles Dam has three overflow opening sending water downstream and creating a series of rapids.  I wonder it they do this for fish movement or too much water behind the dam?

We return to Stayton later today. 

Tomorrow I take my dad to the VA hospital in Portland. 

He needs to get ready to move to the Oregon Veterans Home in two weeks. 

Steven

Sunday now...

Hi:

This is one of the nicest houses in Stayton.  It sits on the other side of the Power Canal.  You get to the garage by crossing over the creek on a bridge.

I am now reading Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Letter.  Sherlock in in the 21st century.  Apparently in 1914 he got caught in a avalanche and froze.  Some years later he is found and thawed out.  He is now alive in the new century.  His companion is not Dr. Watson, but this time it is James Wilson. (not the companion of Dr. House on that TV show...)

Sherlock with cell phone and browsing the Internet.  Suspension of belief is a big part of this novel.

I have another Sherlock book here I will read next. Then on to Shanghai Girls.  I will enjoy reading both of these books.

I found my saddle shoes here.  I got these shoes in high school and I am wearing them now.

Tomorrow I will go The Dalles with my dad to look at a VA Home there.  On Wednesday I drive him to Portland to the VA hospital there. 

Hope your weekend is going well.

Steven

H today...

Hello:

You can see people fishing for trout in the North Santiam River.

Not much happening here today.  I edited the poem we read last night.  Tonight we will have the Kindle read two parts of poem to us. 

I did not finish The Last Dickens last night. I stayed up too late last night doing other things. 

I want to finish that book so I can get on to the Sherlock Holmes books. 

I made spaghetti last night and got some French bread to go with it.  I will cook two ears of corn again tonight to go with dinner.

I think the R's will nominate a jerk to run against the President.  It will make it so easy for the President to win re-election. I  do hope President Obama wins a second term.  The D's will take over the House and get a larger majority in the Senate.  I can hardly wait until all of this happens.

If you don't know it, I am a very liberal Democrat.  Liberal in every sense of the word.  Liberal Catholic too, if the that can even work in the Catholic Church. 

Cooler here today.  No rain, but I think it is coming.

Steven

Hump Day...

Hi again:

This picture shows you should never name something Titanic.  In addition there was a story on NPR a few days ago about a big boat named Titanic. Of course, it sank as it came back back to shore.  Again, why name anything Titanic?

I picked up two novels of Sherlock Holmes, but not by the usual author.  Others are now writing Sherlock Holmes novels.  One book is Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Letter.  The other is The Whitechapel Horrors: A Sherlock Holmes Novel.  Both will be good reads. I found another Sherlock Holmes novel, called No Place Like Holmes.  But the library does not have it yet.

I will finish The Last Dickens tonight.  I am almost finished with it.

Hope your week is going well.

Steven

U today...

Hi:

This picture shows one of the two lakes that are near the North Santiam River. Some years ago some people tried raising trout here for general consumption.  It failed after a few years when they could not get enough fish out.  I used to fish this lake in the evening when the fish are rising. 

Been working hard today.  First, edited the poem again for a later reading tonight.  I also got a haircut.  I made a very good lunch for myself with the "San Francisco treat."  The first time I made this I did not follow the directions so the rice was very hard. This time I followed the directions and it turned out quite nice.

With me staying here longer, I have two more books waiting for me in the library. 

Still reading, The Last Dickens.  A very slow read for me.  We shall see how far I get tonight into this book.

I have not been posting here as much as I wanted to the past two months.

Hope your week is going well.

Steven 

Saturday eve here now...

Hello:

This picture shows pandas in China.  Pandas only eat bamboo, a very limited diet.  They must eat a lot to get any nutrients out of bamboo.

I have delayed my trip to China by two months in order to get some medical procedures done here.  Easier to get here than in China with the language problems.

I edited the three parts of the long poem this morning.  We will finish it early this week.  I can get in on the Kindle page in the middle of next week.  I will give you the links to all three poems on the Kindle page.  With 24 million Kindles out there now, I assume some readers have Kindles who read this blog.

I got up at 2:00 am this morning, but went back to bed by 4:00 am and slept until 7:00 am.  Yet another bifurcated night.  I hate it when I don't sleep all the way through the night. 

Still reading, quite slowly as it seems, The Last Dickens.  It is good book, but written in 19 century English.  Not exactly a page turning type of of book.

I made chicken fried steak tonight. My first effort at it.  I was suppose to use cube steak, but could not find any at Safeway. So I used sirloin tips.  Dip in flour, then in egg mixture, then in bread crumbs.  Cook for 4 minutes on each side.  I also cooked two ears of sweet corn. 

Tomorrow I am driving my father to my brother Randy's home in Wilsonville.  My dad lost his driver's license when the VA doctor told him that.  My dad drives to Church every morning, drives to the library to read the newspapers and drives for medical appointments.  He is 89 now, but drives well enough to keep his license.  If the DMV is taking away driver's licenses due only to age then they have a big problem.  My dad told me he is appealing the decision to take away his license. 

Rain again today. We can tell when it is summer in Oregon...the rain is warm.  Exactly what happened today. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads who read this blog.

Steve

H today

Hi again:

These flowers are at the a farm store just across the river from Stayton.

We will be working on Parts 1 and Part B of the long poem tonight. We will do Part III tomorrow night. I want to get it done early next week so we can put it on the Kindle page. 

Still reading The Last Dickens and I better get busy reading it. It is due June 21. 

Hope your week is going well.

Steven

W today, also Hump Day

Hello:

Another "What????"

Worked hard yesterday, both inside and outside. 

We cleaned out the garage, boxing up stuff.

I also edited the poem yet another time.

Finally we destroyed my dog house to take to the dump.  I no longer have my dog, having giving him away six months ago.

Still reading The Last Dickens.  It is a good book, and I better finish it by next week.

Continuing to pack and re-pack stuff.

Steven

M eve...

Hello:

The question about this picture is: WHAT????

I was busy this morning from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm non-stop. I finished one project.and now have just one more project to finish that I will start and finish this week.

The Last Dickens is a novel about the last story of Charles Dickens he was writing when he died.  Back in those days novelists wrote the novel in serials that showed up on certain papers.  According to this story he had six more chapters ready to go when he suddenly died.  The mystery is to figure out who stole the chapters and why.  A good book.

This will be the last library book I read before I leave.  All future reading will be on my Kindle. 

Yet another nice day. 

Steven

Sunday eve...

Hi again:

This picture shows the new Senior Center in Stayton. I have not been there. If I was staying here I would give bridge lessons but since I am leaving soon, that will not happen.

I am reading my last library book, The Last Dickens, a novel by Matthew Pearl.  I have read his other two novels, which all so very good.

The next 10 days will be busy ones for me.

I will keep this blog going when I am in China again.  This blog started in China and will continue in China.

Hope your weekend went well.

Steven

Saturday today...

Hello again:

This picture shows the Stayton sign from it southern border.  The North Santiam River is just beyond this sign. 

It is another nice day outside.   I am heading to the store soon.

I am watching 2001: A Space Odyssey.  I want to read the last book in this series, 3001, The Final Odyssey.  I see it is at our library, but the library is closed now.  I will get this book on Monday.

I have only one book on my reserve list at the library and I doubt I will get it before I leave.  That book is the latest James Bond novel, written this time by Jeffrey Deever.  I have not read a James Bond novel since high school.  The name of this new book is Carte Blanche  We shall see if it comes in next week.

My cranberry pie is wonderful to eat.  It eat one piece a day.  This is something I will miss when in China.  I am taking my recipe file with me to China.  I doubt even Walmart there has what I need to make this.

I leave on Wednesday, June 22 at 9:30 pm.  I arrive in China two days later at 11:50 am.  Two days with no sleep.  I will try to sleep on the plane, but it will be hard.

Have a great weekend.

Steven

Warm day today



Hello again:

This picture shows the North Santiam River.  You see some people fishing for trout.

This river has runs of steelhead and salmon.  I caught my first steelhead in this river.  It weighed over 15 pounds, a heavy steelhead.

The waters and rivers in China are not like this river.  They are muddy and not clear at all.  Salem gets it water from a station from this river about 3 miles upstream where this picture was taken.

There is an island where Salem gets its water. 

I finished Fire Season. It is a good book as the author goes through the summer months, but digresses throughout the chapters to interesting topics.  I highly recommend this book.

I have delayed my trip to China by one week. Instead of leaving next week, I am leaving on June 22.  I need to delay my trip in order to get the long poem finished and put on the Kindle page.  I will get it done next week. 

I am making a cranberry pie. I used to make these pies around Thanksgiving when fresh cranberries are available.  But I found two packages of frozen cranberries in the freezer so I made one now.

Have a good week and great weekend that is coming.

Steve

U today...

Hello:

This picture, again speaks for itself.  Very ironic.

I was so very busy yesterday, but not today. I am re-packing my suitcases to get more stuff into it and to take some things out, mainly books. 

I am scheduled to leave on June 15 but may have to delay that departure for a week or two, all in order to get the poem done.  Nolan is gone for a week now, attending his convention in central Oregon for tax preparers. 

I hope I do not delay my departure.  But we shall see what happens later this week.

Still reading my library book called Fire Season.  I have not been reading much the last few days but I will read more later this week.

Looks like it may rain later today.

Steve

Funny story

Hit this picture and read this story. It is so very funny.  I assume you can enlarge it. 

Been busy today but it is night now so not busy.

Hope your week is going well.

Steven

Late Sunday



Hello again:

These two pictures speak for themselves.

It is Sunday here. I took a long bike ride today around Stayton to take some pictures of places around Stayton.

I am continuing to read Fire Season, a good book on the fire watchers who live in towers.  I really like this book.

I am listening to All Things Considered on my computer as I write this.  I select the stories I want to hear.  I don't have to listen to the radio when I listen on my computer.

I read a good story on my Kindle about the longest tennis match.  It ended at the 5th set 70-68, with the American winning. Of course, he lost the next day in another singles match in 90 minutes. 

I get a weekly update from Deliverreads.com to my Kindle with a series of 3 to 5 articles in it.  I found another good site today, Longread.com which has quite  few good articles on it.

I like to read long articles on my Kindle rather than on my computer.  In fact, I prefer reading on my computer if the article is only two to three pages long.  I transfer them to my Kindle to read them there.

Hope your weekend is going well.

Steven

Warm weekend is here...

Hello:

This picture explains itself.

I have not posted here as much I wanted to. I have been very busy here getting projects done before I leave.

I am now reading Fire Season about a guy to chronicled seven months in a fire tower in New Mexico.  I am reading this book as this is the job I wanted when I was in high school.  There were no towers near here back then.  The author spent eight summers on that mountain, together with his dog, Alice.   It is a good book and I am enjoying reading it.

I am listening the NPR and now to podcasts as I write this. 

Going through the late Raymond Geraths poems, it affected me to such a degree as I want to start going back to Church. We shall see if I do this tomorrow morning. 

If you have a Kindle now, check out his poems Creation and Redemption.  Those are the first two of his epic poems.  We are now working on the third poem and we hope to have it on the Kindle page next week.

If you cannot find each of these in the Kindle store, let me know I will send you the link to each poem.

Enjoy your weekend.

Steven

W today

Hi again:

I went to bed last night at 7:00 pm and got up this morning at 5:00 am.  Ten hours is what I needed to get over this stomach flu.  I have not eaten in three days and I still not hungry. 

One good thing about this stomach bug is that I have lost 10 pounds.  Too bad I cannot keep losing weight once I am over this bug. 

This picture is from the Beijing subway.  James Fallows showed this on his email to me.  Look closely and see if you can find where you are. 

In exactly two weeks I leave for China again. 

It feels like it is well past noon as I write this but it not yet 10:00 am here. 

I am reading the latest book by James Stewart, called Tangled Webs.  Shows four people who led to the meltdown in recent years.

I am listening to Morning Edition now. There is a story about an Oregon woman who went asleep during a dental procedure.  When she woke up she had an English accent.  It is called Foreign Accent Syndrome.  What an interesting story.

I have hanged my towel and my new jeans outside today after washing them.  I wonder if they will dry in this wet atmosphere. 

Enjoy the rest of this week.

Steven